My mum and dad had their caravan serviced yesterday (2010 Coachman Amara/festival) and the engineers told them that 2 out of the 3 windows at the front needed replacing due to a fault with the manufacturer and apparatly they shake when our on the road (my parents haven't noticed this)
Has anyone else heard of this, or had this pointed out to them?
The windows themselves look fine to me and they don't leak or have condensation in the middle or anything,
It won't cost anything to replace as its under warranty but I am just a bit curious if anyone else has been told this.
------------- Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
Yeah i had the front main window done when 3 years old, its a common fault with loads of windows not just coachman.
i 1st noticed it when i got back from holiday and the front window looked like a oil slick was in it when i touched it it wobbled like jelly. all the presure between the pains had gone.
We had one changed on our 2011 Coachman but it is not limited to Coachman. Polyplastic made the panes too thin and the gap too small and the 2 panes rub together when travelling. Must be costing a fortune as loads of vans have the problem.
They are all being changed under warranty so nothing to worry about. There are no leaks just a faint marking on the inside of the two panes.
Have you checked to see if the wheels and tyres have been balanced at all? It might sound rather silly but when a caravans leave the factory none of the wheels are balanced which can cause a rumble whilst in transit. You would notice any unbalanced wheels in the car but because nobody ever travels in the caravan you don't know how unbalanced the wheels actually are. This will cause a tremor throughout the caravan whilst on the move causing all sorts of problems such window delamination, loosened cupboard and door hinges, damaged joining seals plus you get uneven tyre wear having a shorter life span of the tyres. If you get a tyre depth gauge and check the depth around the circumference, record the findings and see what the difference is. If the results are somewhat drastic then raise this issue with the dealer who they purchased it from. When I had my tyres fitted the tyre fitter said that they don't normally balance caravan tyres but I insisted and paid an extra £5 to have them done. It has been mentioned already that it's not just Coachman but others too so why do some caravan windows need replacing and others don't, that is the question. Unbalanced wheels fits the bill perfectly so do the necessary checks with the tyres and inspect your drawers and lockers to see if any screws or bolts have come loose.
a common fault, the gap is too small in between the panes,this has been found on 1000s of windows.the two panes rub together and cause a misting in the centre about 6 inch round.you would be forgiven to think that moisture was getting in when you look at the window.my friend had one of these on a swift the dealer told him not to worry.i said contact swift ,he did and they changed it at once.miriad (spelling) have changed hundreds for poyplastic.delamination of the panes is a big fault too.if the material is too thin on the front pane then this is another blow for owners to contend with.
------------- the only silly question is the one you do not ask.
Have you checked to see if the wheels and tyres have been balanced at all? It might sound rather silly but when a caravans leave the factory none of the wheels are balanced which can cause a rumble whilst in transit. You would notice any unbalanced wheels in the car but because nobody ever travels in the caravan you don't know how unbalanced the wheels actually are. This will cause a tremor throughout the caravan whilst on the move causing all sorts of problems such window delamination, loosened cupboard and door hinges, damaged joining seals plus you get uneven tyre wear having a shorter life span of the tyres. If you get a tyre depth gauge and check the depth around the circumference, record the findings and see what the difference is. If the results are somewhat drastic then raise this issue with the dealer who they purchased it from. When I had my tyres fitted the tyre fitter said that they don't normally balance caravan tyres but I insisted and paid an extra £5 to have them done. It has been mentioned already that it's not just Coachman but others too so why do some caravan windows need replacing and others don't, that is the question. Unbalanced wheels fits the bill perfectly so do the necessary checks with the tyres and inspect your drawers and lockers to see if any screws or bolts have come loose.
I didn't know that, why would they not balance the wheels I wonder
We had caravans for 10 years and I don't think we ever got the wheels balanced
There are no other problems, things coming loose etc, infact this coachman has been far better than they're last one (amara) as that had a different problem every year, although they love the finish in coachmans so they bought another one.
Thanks again for the replies, Happy bank holiday everyone.
------------- Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
This has been an ongoing issue with caravan manufacturers for a few years now but they are reluctant to do anything about it because the complete Alko chassis' are imported from Germany with axles, tyres and spare already fitted so to get each wheel and tyre balanced would be an expensive and time consuming task especially on their twin axle units which would of course have to be financed via their own budget which would mean an increase for the customer which they are reluctant to do. If motorhomes didn't have any wheels balanced from new, the customer would be somewhat dis-satisfied that the ride was rather uncomfortable so they have to balance the wheels accordingly because it could be easily detected if they're not. Because people are not allowed to be transported in the caravan it's an issue that can be swept under the carpet quite easily and any caravan owner is totally blind to the fact that their caravan could have a constant tremor, and if both wheels are severely unbalanced then the problem becomes much worse. It's a fact that needs to be bought to the attention of caravanners as it could be a big money saver in the long term in more ways than one.
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Topic: 2010 coachman front windows
